As the popularity of offshore development grows, companies have gained significant experience in this area. However, it often proves to be quite challenging to manage such a project. To produce effective results, outsourcing companies need specific knowledge and experience that, ideally, your in-house team has already developed or at least understands all aspects of operating an offshore development center.

What is an offshore development center?
Let’s start with the offshore development center meaning. An offshore development center, or ODC, is a team of software engineers located in an outsourcing country. This gives them the opportunity to have access to talented developers that may not have been available locally. It also opens more business opportunities in a foreign land by having a presence there and being able to communicate with customers there.

Having an offshore development center is crucial for small startups who are just starting out and don’t have a lot of money to spend on their website.

How does it work?
An ODC is one of the most popular strategies to get custom software developed. It means that your developers will work under the same brand as their head office and have common goals for engineers. Offshore development center services include offshore IT specialists who perform important assignments and bring the same value to the business as a standard in-house team. Typically, the ODC team is composed of various specialists, including software engineers, QA engineers, back-end and front-end developers, web and UI/UX designers, technical writers, and team leads. It’s up to you to decide on the roles and structure of your offshore team.

Who needs one?
The offshore software development center can be helpful for different types of technology companies, depending on their needs. The main factor that these companies have in common is the desire to find cost-effective solutions for their software development needs.

Benefits of offshore development centers
Offshore development centers are a fantastic opportunity to cash in on your efforts and make more money for your projects. After all, you don’t have to do everything in-house, as there are so many great opportunities waiting at the door! Let’s see some benefits of ODCs.

Offshore developers do become a part of your brand
You may have a world-class product, but without eye-catching visual assets and a clean UX design for your website, you’re sure to be lost in the sea of white noise. A winning brand will catch your customers’ attention and keep them coming back.

Meager chance of Intellectual Property thefts
The offshore development center model requires you to work with a third party, giving you full ownership of your processes and product development. You won’t have to worry about issues with security or intellectual property rights because those are all taken care of by a single agency instead of many different people.

A much-improved management
When you manage your team directly, you empower them to be more engaged. On top of that, you won’t miss small details which are usually lost in translation. Taking care of your offshore development team shows them that you are committed to their success, just like you would be with your own team. This commitment fosters better engagement and a more productive work environment.

Risks
Of course, not everything is perfect, so there are some risks associated with offshore development centers, and we need to pay some attention to them.

Loss of control
The perceived risk of offshore development for businesses is that they lose control over their team of engineers, as they belong to an offshore company. This can be a big problem if problems arise with the project, as it can be challenging to get in touch with the right people to fix the issue.

Spiraling costs
Offshore teams sometimes offer vague pricing, which may sound great initially, but then scale dramatically. This can be a massive problem for businesses that are trying to stay within a budget. To avoid this, it’s essential to be clear about your expectations and requirements upfront.

Final words
While an offshore development center cannot be your only ticket to success, there is a good chance you can save money and time by choosing the right partner who can accommodate your needs.

Source links — Offshore development center: what do you need to know at first?